the son of a proud military family, he trained at west point and then trained to be an army ranger. and in 2008, lieutenant sam brown deployed for his first tour of duty in kandahar, afghanistan. that was sam before. this is what sam looks like now. on the last day of his mission four years ago, his humvee ran over an ied and explode sbudd i fireball. his body was engulfed in flames. >> reporter: describe those feelings in the moments right after when your body was on fire. >> i literally thought i was going to die, and my instinctive reaction was to throw my arms in the air and call out to god. i remember thinking, i wonder how long it will take me to burn to death. >> reporter: he suffered third-degree burns on 30% of his body. they said he was lucky to be alive, but he was facing a long recovery. >> with a burn injury, that rehabilitative process can go on for weeks or months, sometimes even years. >> he couldn't eat much of anything because his mouth was literally the size of a nickel. >> reporter: amy morrison was the dietitian in the burn unit. she marvelled at his drive to ge